More than two dozen gems, from Bill Withers to Screaming Females.

A lot of great music came out over the past 12 months, and we've been busy culling through it for you to pull out the gems. Below, in no particular order, are the year's Top 10 lists of our three most prolific music writers. These are the new albums they listen to again and again even when they're off the clock. You'll see some notable overlap, including Micachu and the Shapes and Sharon Van Etten—and by all means rush out right this second and buy the Screaming Females' album. Also check out Asawin Suebsaeng's opinionated roundup of "The Most Fantastic and Glorious Movies of 2012—and the Worst of the Worst" and 2012 music, books, and media picks (coming soon) from the rest of the MoJo staff. And now, without further ado...

Alyssa Battistoni's Top 10

1. Sharon Van Etten, Tramp (Jagjaguwar): Confessional singing-songwriting the way it was meant to be done. (Review and interview with Van Etten.)

5. Screaming Females, Ugly (Don Giovanni): If you thought it couldn’t get better than the last album, Castle Talk, Marissa Paternoster's punk vibrato and slaying hooks will prove you very, very wrong. (Review and short profile.)

6. Animal Collective, Centipede Hz (Domino): The Brooklyn-based foursome's most joyous, noisy tangle of an album yet. (Read about Avey Tare's music picks.)

7. Ty Segall, Twins (Drag City): Having trained under the auspices of Bay Area garage greats like Thee Oh Sees for years, young'n Ty Segall released his best set of heart-on-sleeve hits in 2012.

10. Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan (Domino): Unclassifiable, ornate, and soaring. Dave Longstreth has taken flack for the cerebral quality of the Projectors' music, but this is the kind of cerebral you can play on repeat.